Ben Hopkins explores the resurgent heart of Hanoi

History has lent a turbulent ride to this proud city. After 73 years seething under French occupation along came the Japanese to grasp a steely grip on the city from 1940 to 1945. Upon their fall Ho Chi Minh declared independence from Hanoi’s Ba Hinh Square. But again the breath of freedom was short lived and for the following eight years Hanoi struggled
with the French, finally casting them aside to be met with the prospect of managing a country split in two along ideological lines.

And in 1964 along came Uncle Sam, fortifying the south in a war that would last over ten years, bringing the city, and the country to its knees. When the Americans finally flew home Hanoi was a crippled victor; like a starving soldier emerging from a war zone with no food on the table. The following twenty years of international sanctions would leave the city in a hollow of depression, reliant upon Russian food and with little outside contact.

The country’s great liberator, Ho Chi Minh died in 1969, long before the end
e war but his memory lives on and even today his legacy can be seen
ughout the city. In the Old Quarter where modern, international restau­
ts and fashion stores attest to the emergence of a cosmopolitan capital his
ge is ubiquitous. In fashion stores you’ll find his portrait splashed across
hirts, in side street cafes he’ll be looking down at you from an old glass
e, in the city’s numerous art galleries his portrait remains a favorite sub-
for today’s artists and on every bank note he’s still there. Communism
y finally buckle and break under the capitalist surge that’s finally breath­ing life into this city but the burning legacy of Ho Chi Minh, Uncle of the People will take a lot longer to fade.

No one is waiting for things to happen in Hanoi. Stop for a moment and street hawkers will swarm around selling everything from banana’s to flesh colored Christ’s that glow in the dark. Hanoi gives cities like Singapore and Bangkok the appearance of sleeping giants. Communism may hold the reigns of power in Vietnam, but it’s capitalism that feeds this city and sets the pace. This may seem like a marriage made in hell, but when I ask the owner of my guest house what he thinks of the idea of democracy in Vietnam, he laughs and replies, half jokingly “You live in Bangkok. Look at the mess democracy has left you with. We’ll have democracy one day, but not yet, people are too busy making money and taking care of their families.”

Hanoi is essentially a city with strong roots in culture and traditions. The people are proud of their music, art and literature. A stroll through the narrow streets of the Old Quarter will reveal a vibrant art scene. Galleries and craft shops are as common as 7-11’s and massage parlors in Bangkok. Some of the streets open up, while others narrow into a warren of alleyways where the occasional scent of freshly baked croissants could fool anyone into believing they’re following a picture book tour through the backstreets of Paris. Turning a corner can be like spinning the globe as you find yourself at the entrance of a Chinese temple dating back to the 15th century, and beside that an internet café packed with school kids playing computer games, forging ahead, for better or worse into the 21st century.

‘The Rapid Leap Forward’ that Hanoi has achieved in economic terms has naturally fil­tered down to the lifestyle of young people in this very traditional city, often creating a fractious relationship with the older population. When the late afternoon sun casts shadows across the tree lined streets of Hanoi, the people brace themselves for another night of moonlit activ­ity. Neon-lit bars serving fashionable drinks and playing an eclectic mix of modern tunes are springing up in growing numbers. Hidden away in the backstreets of the Old Quarter, some are surreptitiously finding ways to defy the orders of the police (known mockingly as ‘the fun police’) who order that all bars close by midnight on weekdays and 1am at the week­end. However, to make the most of a night out in Hanoi, it’s best to encom­pass all aspects of this ancient city whose roots trace back to the Neolithic period, and whose legends speak proudly of victory and survival.

Night Tour

Hanoi is a night city with a strong fusion of European styles reflected in its cuisine, music and architecture. One fine example of French fusion is the Hoa Sua restaurant where a string quartet plays Mozart and Bach in a courtyard dwarfed by a spiraling staircase. Not only will you get great value for money here, you should also feel no guilt while stuffing yourself with frogs legs and Cognac.  Hoa Sua is a successful goodwill project that takes in and trains a steady stream of disadvantaged kids for a culinary career. Like Oliver Twist of old, they’ve been rescued from the streets so enjoy another cognac, listen to the music and steady yourself for the next stage of the night
tour.

Traditionally, Vietnam is known for its strange food. For those seeking a ‘walk on the wild side’ of Vietnamese cuisine, it’s possible to test your gut control with beaten dog meat, duck embryo, field mice, buffalo penis and crickets. For guys who feel the need to prove their masculinity, king cobra could be the ideal tonic. Difficult to find but notorious in their existence are ‘snake restaurants’. For around US$30 per person they’ll kill a venomous snake before your eyes, cut out its still beating heart, feed it to you with a cup of the serpent’s blood and tell you it increases your potency.

I choose to save this particular treat for a future date and instead wave down a taxi to take me to a bar on the edge of the Old Quarter called Highway4.

Highway4 is a dimly lit drinking den swimming in the mystical, medicinal and intoxicating qualities of Vietnamese rice liquor, known to locals as Zio. Zio is the liquor that was drunk by the emperors of Vietnam and many of the bar’s 25 different recipes come served with anecdotes relating to ancient Vietnamese rulers. Enter with caution as your first sight will be a row of huge glass containers filled with various shades of pale amber liquid and crammed with herbs and plants that bring to mind an episode from The Triffids. There’s one glass container voluminous enough to encapsulate a child within which is coiled a snake large enough to consume an adult.

Try not to catch the eyes of the cobra as you walk past and up a narrow, rick­ety staircase to the rooftop terrace where the serious business of drinking begins. Curiosity killed the cat but not before it got drunk so I settle down, cross-legged, at a twelve-inch high bamboo table and follow my fingertip down the drinks list.

Among the several blends there are a couple that catch my eye: Ong Den; made from the rare black bee, recommended for its earthy honey taste and Ran Ngu Xa; blended with venomous snake, powerful and sprightly as it coils a passage around your taste buds.

For those seeking an aphrodisiac, there’s Minh Mang, named after a Viet­namese emperor who ruled from 1820 to 1840. Notorious for his uncount­able concubines, legend has it he fathered around 300 children. Having died before the age of 40, the mind boggles at this guy’s work rate. I soon find the answer in the menu; Nhat Da Ngu Giao, the most potent of rice whiskies. Drink enough of this concoction and the claim is you’ll be producing four children per night. Marvelous – if you’re not suffering from brewers droop.

After a night in Highway4 you may find yourself struggling to walk let alone procreate. But if for you the night is still young, there’s the newly opened Roots drinking den that’ll thrash out quality music into the early hours. This is a favorite of ex-pats and locals alike. The ambience is friendly, open and rough edged. Canvasses painted in a style to please no one but those with an eye for ‘the creative’ hang from the walls, while the music of The Prodigy and Arctic Monkeys assures a clientele who understand music.

By the time I leave Roots the stars are fading and it won’t be long before the sun once again wakes up the city. But for now it’s silent, the only disturbance coming from an elderly man remonstrating with his son for returning home late and drunk.

Sweet dreams, Hanoi.